Page 14 of Crush

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She’d already checked out the small kitchen last night while Ollie brushed his teeth, so prepping a bit of breakfast was easy enough. During the welcome party, Mag told them most of the orcs chose to eat communal meals in the galley.

“It can get lonely out in space,” he’d said.

Amma had spread all four arms (and wasn’t that going to take some getting used to?) in a gesture that encompassed orcs and Earthers alike. “And that’s exactly why we’re all here now, isn’t it?”

With a grunt of dissatisfaction at her endlessly circling thoughts, Adeline grabbed the datpad they’d all been given at the start of their journey. She sent a message to June’s device inviting her for coffee, being careful to tag the delivery as non-urgent so as to not bother the other woman if she was still sleeping—or if she was sleeping with someone else.

That’s exactly why we’re all here now, isn’t it?

Maybe the only thought more disconcerting than being lonely was being in someone else’s arms.

Someone else’s four arms…

The datpad chimed softly.

Adeline smiled. In some ways, June seemed too young and unworldly to be an alien mail order bride. How could she have already decided Earth wasn’t for her? She’d even admitted that the Greyhound from her town to the Big Sky IDA outpost had been her longest, most interesting trip ever. But then sometimes Adeline would catch a glimpse of something else in the other woman’s eyes, and she would remind herself no one could know what was in anyone else’s heart.

She’d made that mistake already and never again.

When the door pinged, she went to let June in. “Good mor…ning,” she finished with slightly less enthusiasm when she saw Kinsley too; she’d just never really clicked with the other woman. “Come on in. Coffee’s ready, and so is what I’m calling the orc version of a breakfast burrito?”

Echoing her greeting, the two women followed her to the living room.

“Where’s Ollie?” June asked.

“Still sleeping. In my bed.” Adeline shook her head. “He said he had a nightmare.”

“Poor kiddo,” Kinsley said. “Probably just on edge from all the excitement.”

Heading for the counter where she’d left the coffee, Adeline forced herself not to bristle as she pulled out a third mug. She knew Kinsley wasn’t questioning her parenting, just stating an obvious fact. On the IDA transport, they’d all discussed—sometimes overtly, sometimes less so—their hopes and trepidations. Kinsley hadn’t shared any fewer details about her old life than Adeline herself had.

Everyone was entitled to personal issues they might not want aired out, not even in space.

“You said you had a nightmare too, Kinsley,” June said with her usual ingenuous sympathy as Adeline distributed the coffee. “That’s why I found you wandering around on my way here.”

Kinsley grimaced and touched her head behind her ear. “Yeah. The translator Sil gave me is only temporary until he can get something better at the Luster. Last night—or whatever we’re calling the hours they turn down the slug lights and everything goes creepy quiet and dark—I was getting some weird…echoes, I guess. Like whispers.” Clearing her throat, she dropped her hand. “It’s nothing.”

June patted her shoulder before taking a deep slurp. “Oh so good,” she moaned. “What happens when we run out?”

“We drink foczest, which is apparently the cheap, legal stimulant of choice in civilized galaxies,” Kinsley said. When they looked at her, she shrugged. “Gotta always be looking ahead.”

Adeline took a sip of her coffee. “I guess that’s why we’re here.”

By the time she’d served up the burrito and the three of them concurred it wasn’t half bad, Ollie wandered out of the bedroom. At some point after she’d gotten up, he’d stripped out of his pajama top, and only the lightweight flannel bottoms drooped around his scrawny, little-boy butt.

Yeah, she already knew he was going to be asking for an orc kilt.

“Morning,” he grunted as he hugged her then spun on his bare heel and trudged back to the bathroom.

Kinsley chuckled. “I think I dated him once.”

“It’s hard when you can’t have coffee yet,” June said repressively.

Reluctantly amused herself, Adeline prepped a fourth breakfast. When Ollie returned—hands and face still a little damp from washing, she was proud and relieved to note—he looked perkier though still shirtless. “Teq wants to learn how to play ghost in the graveyard,” he announced to the other women. “We need more people. Do you want to play with us?”

“Ah, that wasn’t exactly what Teq said,” Adeline cautioned.

But June was already nodding. “I’ll play. But I warn you, I used to be really good at hiding and catching people when I was the ghost.”